Institutions

Nineteenth-century London saw a massive expansion both in size and population, which meant that the ways in which people travelled around the City and its suburbs would be radically altered by the end of the century.

In 1829, George Shillibeer, a London coach-builder, began the first omnibus service, starting in Paddington, skirting the northern fringes of London and through the City to terminate at Bank. The omnibus concept proved very popular, and competitors began running similar services on various new routes. In time, the disparate companies operating the services were regulated, and brought together to form the basis of the London bus system we know today.

By the 1850s, with the opening of Paddington, Euston and King's Cross stations, there was then, no easy way of transporting increasing passenger numbers from these termini to the City. The Metropolitan Railway began operating in January 1863 and was an immediate success, with over 27,000 journeys a day during the first year. Five years later, the District Line opened between Westminster and South Kensington. Eventually the lines connecting the railway termini were joined to form the Inner Circle Line and railway companies began extending their lines outwards in order to exploit the potential of reaching the London suburbs. The beginnings of the Underground system we have today were well in place.

At the beginning of the twentieth century electric tramway systems began to appear in Greater London, of which the London County Council Tramways (LCCT) was the most extensive. These became a common sight in London, before being phased out during the early 1950s.